Testament’s Alex Skolnick Sings, Not Raps, on His Jazz Trio’s First-Ever Blues Song
Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick is serving up "Florida Man Blues," the first-ever blues song by his jazz trio, on which he even takes lead vocals. To everyone's delight, he's not rapping like he did around this time last year.
Sure, those Skoly D rap songs were fun, hokey and entertaining, but Skolnick is more equipped for the blues, even if it does mean carrying over a bit of that satirical, topical commentary on this new single.
Riffing (see what we did there?) off the infamous "Florida Man" news headlines which typically depict some seemingly far-fetched, never-in-a-million-years scenarios as everyday occurrences in the "Sunshine State," the Alex Skolnick Trio evoke that too-cool vibe which is emboldened by the band wearing sunglasses indoors in the music video, as well as Skolnick watching himself strut through the wintry streets of Brooklyn on a television set.
"Every other day I'm reading 'bout the Florida Man, he defies evolution, tries the best he can," sings Skolnick as he offers snapshots of a multitude of situations down in Florida, such as a man taking his pet alligator to a liquor store. If you are wondering — yes, that really happened.
And definitely aware of the humorous nature of what he's putting out, Skolnick packs the video with guest turns from comedians Dave Hill, Brian Posehn and podcast host Dean Delray.
Commenting on the video for the song, which was written in 2019, Skolnick said, "It gives me great pleasure to finally release this video! In the two years since we tracked this tune, so much has happened. We can all use a good dose of solid blues and good humor during these times. I’m grateful to everyone involved, from tracking to filming, especially Adam, who believed in this song and felt it deserved a video as big as, well… Florida."
About the Jazz Trio's jump over to the blues, he added, "The blues has always been a big component of my playing, across genres. In high school, BB King was on my turntable as much as Van Halen. And I’ve always loved the lyrical humor of folks like Junior Brown, Frank Zappa and early Tom Waits. 'Florida Man Blues' presented an opportunity to fully display these influences for the first time on a recording.”
Watch the music video below, but only after you've put your sunglasses on.